


Nascent

by likebunnies



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Parents, Childbirth, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Living Together, Sappy Ending, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 12:48:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7845706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likebunnies/pseuds/likebunnies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abbie Mills and Ichabod Crane are unexpectedly expecting. Which changes everything. Really, it's just sappy baby fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nascent

**Author's Note:**

> Last October, on my birthday, I just started posting on Tumblr little segments of an Ichabbie baby fic I began writing that day because it was my birthday and I can do any cliche fiction trope I want on my birthday! This was called “It’s My Birthday and I Can Write What I Want To” when I blogged it. Then that evening, life got real and I never wrote more. Until now! So this is all of it. All errors are mine. It’s sappy, a bit out of character, and filled with cliches. BUT no one dies.

Abbie stared at the stick in her hand and knew two things for certain. One, nothing was ever going to be the same and two, she loved this person growing inside of her already even though she had only known positively about their existence for ten seconds now. She had already guessed six days ago but was playing the wait and see game. One of the reasons she waited was because she was afraid the answer would be no.

This was all stupid. It wasn’t a good time for this. She had her career. She and Crane had their apocalypse to contend with. They had only been having sex for about five months now and were barely even accustomed to being a couple with a physical relationship to go along with the emotional one. A single complete failure of birth control and here she was. She was going to have to tell Crane and tell him before he cooked eggs for breakfast again. The smell yesterday morning was horrible.

She wrapped the pregnancy test up in toilet paper and stuck it at the bottom of the trash can. Abbie thought about throwing up but there was nothing in her stomach. How in the hell were they going to be parents? How were they going to combat evil and take care of an infant? Why would anyone bring a helpless baby into such a broken world?

Maybe it would be what gave them the hope that they would indeed be victorious in the end. That they wouldn’t all three die together.

Abbie unlocked the bathroom door and found Crane seated at the table, reading a book while eating a bowl of Froot Loops. She often thought he liked them because they looked like bright little doughnuts. Just the sight of them made her queasy.

She sat in her usual chair beside him, closed her eyes and sighed.

“Are you ill, Lieutenant?” he asked. She opened her eyes again and stared at him. He was completely focused on her and she still wasn’t sure how to tell him but she certainly couldn’t keep it a secret. That didn’t play out all that well the last time someone did that to him.

“Listen, Crane. We’ve got to talk.”

*^*^*^*^*^*^

“You’re absolutely certain?” Crane asked. Again. It had been ten minutes since Abbie told him the news and he still was still trying to make sense of everything he was feeling. They had moved from the table to the couch, his half-eaten bowl of Froot Loops long forgotten.

The few things he was sure of was that his ancestors probably never imagined this when they said he had to carry on the family line and that he loved this child growing inside of his dearest Lieutenant as much as he loved her.

“I’m as certain as one can be. I’m a week late and I’m never late and those tests are usually pretty accurate,” Abbie said. Crane nodded and tried to read her expression. Even if Abbie didn’t tell him everything she was feeling, he could usually see it all on her face and in her eyes. He kept seeing a flicker of panic move over her face before she reined it back in.

“What scares you the most?” he asked, needing desperately to know. Now her eyes locked on to his and she tried to look completely calm. Tried and failed. To someone who didn’t know her as well as he did, she could have faked it, but he knew her body and soul and she couldn’t hide from him.

“What scares me the most is that there will now be one more person that they can take from me. The fear of losing you is unspeakable. But this…” she started and then laughed nervously. “How can I love this so much already?”

“Children are all our hopes and dreams walking around in a world that’s often beyond our control. Abbie, we will do our best,” he said, placing his hand on her abdomen though there was nothing there to feel yet. “I love him… or her… already, too. I will never let anything happen to either of you.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“We are the Witnesses, chosen by the gods and fate to be together. I choose to view this as the next step in that covenant. It might not be in the scriptures or anything I’ve ever seen in my research, but we’ll rewrite the story. Make it ours,” he said, standing and holding out a hand to her to help her up even though she didn’t need any such thing yet.

“Where are we going?” she asked. Neither of them were dressed for the day, him in his nightshirt, her in her short pajama bottoms and a tank top. He steered them toward the bedroom.

“Shopping, Lieutenant. I’ve always wanted to go to Toys R Us.”

*^*^*^*^*^*^

“Ichabod Crane, if you shoot me with one more Nerf dart, you’ll be sitting in the car!” Abbie said as the foam projectile hit her on the back of the head. She turned around to find him attempting to look innocent while holding a Nerf Blaster in one hand and a red lightsaber in the other. “The red ones are for the bad guys. We’re the good guys.”

As if it burned him, he dropped the lightsaber quickly and Abbie shook her head and motioned for him to also set down the other ‘weapon.’ He did so and wandered off to another aisle as she looked at all the baby stuff and panicked. There was so much and none of it was cheap. It was mind-boggling.

Crane came back down the aisle holding two little pajama outfits. One was red and said ‘Daddy’s Best Buddy’ and the other said ‘Wild About Mommy’ and was covered in giraffes. She shook her head about those, too.

“Our child will need clothing,” he said, looking at the price tags. “Eventually.”

“It’s all so overwhelming! Look at it! Bottles and thermometers and strollers and infant car seats. All of it is expensive. I make good money, Crane, but this is just the start! Then it’s school and cars and college. I can’t pay for the house and us and everything to do with our mission and a baby,” Abbie said, completely falling apart now. She had kept her emotions in check until right now but this was crazy.

Crane put down the baby clothes and held her tight as she cried. She hated feeling weak but she couldn’t control this. The tears just kept coming. An unexpected pregnancy in the middle of a damn apocalypse. Now she’d have to decide whether to get the plain baby tub or the one with the shower and the jacuzzi. And how were they going to flee from a demon if they had a baby strapped to them in one of those wraps?

“Abbie, we don’t need all this. None of this is absolutely necessary to raise a baby. Look at this! A $239 baby monitor so we can watch the baby on the internet? Who else will be watching our baby, too, with this? This is preposterous! And what is a Diaper Genie?” he said, looking at all the items surrounding them.

“You put dirty disposable diapers in it,” Abbie said, drying her eyes. “So they don’t stink up the house.”

“Can I not just walk them out to the outside garbage can?”

“At 3 a.m. in January?”

“Point taken. But no one has ever needed all of this for a baby. Yes, it is all rather expensive but people have raised children with a lot less than you and I have,” Crane said, still holding her in his arms. She was glad he didn’t go into an all-out rant in the middle of a toy store about the price of bottled nursery water for formula.

“You’re going to have to get a job. One that pays better than the historic center. At least until the baby is born. Then when I go back to work, you can stay home with him… or her… so we won’t have to find daycare,” Abbie said, looking up at him to see how he felt about this. She didn’t know what to expect. Certainly men in Crane’s era didn’t stay home with babies. Actually, she knew that he had very limited contact with either of his parents as a child and was raised by others until he was sent away to school. He was smiling at the thought and that was a relief. At least their child would be safe with him.

“Yes, I will find employment so we will be able to buy this Diaper Genie,” Crane said, releasing Abbie and kissing her on the top of her head. “But don’t worry about the rest.”

“Okay. I won’t worry about it yet. We have time and we don’t need all of this stuff,” Abbie said, trying her hardest to smile. Her emotions about this really were all over the place. He held her hand as they started to leave the baby section. It wasn’t long before he let go of her, his eyes wide as he found something else that excited him.

“But we need this!” he said, pulling a turtle-shaped thing off of the shelf and playing with the lights and sounds. “It shines the constellations on the baby’s ceiling. With this and the Diaper Genie, we’ll never have to go out at night again!”

*^*^*^*^*^*^

“The good news is I can’t get pregnant,” Abbie joked and Crane arched an eyebrow at her comment. They were in bed, his hands wandering over her body as she nestled her head against his shoulder. “It’s a joke. It’s one of the few times a woman doesn’t have to worry about birth control. When she’s already pregnant. She can relax and… not worry.”

“Oh, I see,” he said, although he wasn’t sure he did. Although various methods of birth control had been around for centuries, he was still unfamiliar with all the latest ones. All he knew was she forgot to take a few pills when something serious was going on at work and now here they were, parents-to-be.

“Soon, you know, we’ll have a baby and all this lounging around in bed on Saturday mornings will be a thing of the past,” Abbie said and Crane moaned. He loved being in bed with her, even if they weren’t doing anything but talking. He loved being able to touch her freely and looking at her entire body, drinking in all her soft curves.

“I know I will miss having these mornings. When I no longer have you to myself… and no longer have these all to myself,” he said, sitting up so his back was against the headboard and pulling her so she was straddling him. He dipped his head down and flicked his tongue against a nipple, feeling it grow hard. She leaned back and let out a sweet, soft sound as he continued to lavish all his attention on her breasts. Abbie had already warned him that they were growing far more sensitive to the touch so he was so very careful, not wanting to hurt her in any way.

They were both already naked and it wasn’t long before he was inside of her body as she moved on his lap. If he could have managed a thought about anything other than what Abbie was doing to him, he would have counted the number of Saturday mornings they had left to be just like this.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

Abbie had never been so tired in her life. Not during college finals. Not during her training at the FBI academy. Nothing was like the exhaustion she felt now that she was well into her first trimester of pregnancy. Most days, she couldn’t wait for the workday to be over so she could go home and nap and today was no different. When he worked nights, Crane would come home from his job as the curator and head tour guide at the archives and find her sleeping in their bed. He’d curl in behind her, and both of them would nap, his arm wrapped tight around her as if he was afraid she’d vanish.

Everyone told her to get her sleep now because she wouldn’t get to sleep again until the kid went to college. And maybe not even then.

She woke up from her nap to find herself alone. She was sure she had heard Crane rattling around the house when he got home but he never came into the bedroom. Abbie sat up, stretched and yawned before padding barefoot out of the room to look for him. She found him outside, next to the garage and a tiny pile of lumber. He was looking at a set of plans but she couldn’t figure out for what.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked, distracting him from the papers he was studying so intently that he didn’t hear her approach.

“Oh! I didn’t realize you were awake. I am going to build our child a cradle,” he said, sounding so sure of himself.

“You’re what?”

“I’m building a cradle. I have purchased the supplies from the local lumber mill and I have found some plans that I think will be perfect. So while you are building the child, so to speak, I will build this,” he said, holding out the plans for Abbie to look at.

They weren’t incredibly complicated as far as she could tell and they were up to modern standards as far as safety protocols but still, she had never seen him build anything quite like this.

“You sure about this? We can always get a bassinet or one of those bedside sleepers things we saw at the store if that would be easier,” Abbie said. She didn’t mean to allow that slight tone of uncertainty into her voice but it just happened.

He snapped the plans away from her and folded them up properly, his expression the one he would get when she doubted him. A little hurt but still a little cocky at the same time. She knew she was in for it now.

“I’ll have you know that back when we were forging this nation, we couldn’t just make a quick trip to the Home Depot for a new faucet. What we didn’t bring with on the ocean voyage, we had to handcraft. I have been known to make many repairs back in my day and…”

“Okay, I got it. I got it,” Abbie said, motioning for him to calm down. He went about covering the lumber with a tarp and closing up the garage. When he was done cleaning up, he turned to her, his left hand twitching in a way it hadn’t for a while.

“I want to do this. If I fail, we’ll buy something from the Wal-Mart. If I succeed, our child will have something she… or he… can pass on to their children and so on and so forth,” Crane said and Abbie actually liked that idea. A normal heirloom, not a book about magic or a bible that had been buried with their father for centuries. Something normal would be nice. After all, Crane did manage to build that cabinet so he could send his soul aloft to find her. If he could manage that, a cradle shouldn’t be that difficult.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen every inch of her body already but never quite like this. Crane wasn’t sure when he was going to get used to Abbie’s obstetric appointments and the poking and prodding that went along with them but it certainly wasn’t going to be today.

Yet all his thoughts about that always went away when they got past that and to the part where they could listen to the baby’s heartbeat. Pounding away somewhere in a dark, underwater world, the sweet noise nearly brought him to tears. Abbie reached for his hand, and he squeezed her fingers.

It still amazed him. Their baby. Their baby was alive and healthy. He and Abbie had made a person. Out of the many things they had accomplished together as partners, this one wasn’t all that miraculous. People did this for eons, over and over again. Yet here he was, declaring this event a miracle because it was happening to him. To them.

Actually, it was a miracle. He shouldn’t even exist. He should have been moldering away in his grave for ages now. In turn, this particular combination of the two of them shouldn’t be here, with its tiny heart beating so fast.

Dr. Lowell pulled away the fetal Doppler and Crane wanted to tell her to put it back and that he wasn’t done listening yet. At least when the doctor held that device against Abbie’s abdomen, he knew the baby was safe and very much human.

“I believe we can schedule your first ultrasound in the next few days. Tell them at the front desk and they’ll set it up,” the doctor said, and Abbie nodded. The nurse in attendance helped Abbie wipe the gel off of her stomach and Crane assisted her in sitting up even though she didn’t need his help. “Any questions? How about you, Dad? Anything?”

It was still shocking, hearing himself referred to as dad or father again but at least this time he could ease into the situation and not find out the hard way he was the parent to psychopathic adult. Yes, he had technically been a parent before but this was completely different. This time he’d actually get to be a father. A dad.

Daddy.

“I have no questions,” Crane said, even though he had a million. What parent didn’t?

*^*^*^*^*^*^

“She looks like her aunt,” Jenny said, holding the ultrasound image in her hand and staring at it with that dreamy look aunts gets when they start to think of all the ways they’re going to spoil their sibling’s kid.

Joe grabbed the picture from her and turned it around and around, still unable to make out anything no matter how many times Abbie told him where the baby was and what direction it was facing. “He looks like his Uncle Joey,” he said and all of them looked at him as he shrugged.

“Genetically, that would be impossible –” Crane started before Joe and Jenny both laughed.

“We know, Crane. He was making a joke,” Abbie said, reaching for the picture. It showed practically nothing but she couldn’t help but stare at it for long periods of time. Crane was just as bad. Now he reached for it and ran his fingers over where the technician showed them the baby was located in the image. Abbie smiled at him, loving the look in his eyes. They twinkled with a happiness she had never seen in him before.

“When will you find out if it is going to be my niece or my nephew?” Jenny asked and Abbie looked at Crane.

As of now, he was all for the modern way of knowing ahead of time so plans could be made and names could be chosen. Abbie wasn’t sure what she wanted yet. Maybe because she was perfectly content either way. No matter what this child turned out to be in life, she was going to be happy. Sure, babies weren’t exactly miracles these days. Anyone going to Target on a Saturday morning could tell you the world was loaded with them. But she was having a baby with someone whose mere existence in this day and age was so utterly complicated that it was hard to not use the world miraculous every once in a while. He should be so long dead, just a name on a Revolutionary War era grave marker. Instead he was at her table, drinking a mimosa and looking at the picture of their unborn child.

“I’m not sure we’re gonna let you all know,” Abbie said, taking a sip of her orange juice sans champagne.

“What? You can’t do that to us!” Jenny cried out over her flapjacks. Abbie still couldn’t stand the smell of eggs so those were out as a brunch item. Joe put a reassuring hand on Jenny’s arm and whispered something to her. “Besides, I used to sneak in and out of countries. You think you’re keeping anything about that baby a secret?”

“You didn’t know I was pregnant until I told you,” Abbie countered. “That was a couple of weeks, too, super sleuth.”

“When did you find out, Crane?” Joe asked.

“Yeah, did she try to keep it a secret from you, too?” Jenny added.

Crane looked at Abbie and cocked his head, waiting for her answer. “He poured himself a bowl of Froot Loops. I took the test. He was still eating his breakfast when I told him we had to talk,” Abbie said, nodding at him, letting him know there were no secrets. 

“And you didn’t tell me because…” Jenny asked, sounding hurt.

“I wanted to make sure, Jenny, that’s all,” Abbie said, shrugging her shoulders before nibbling on a piece of whole wheat toast.

“What? Make sure you were keeping it? There was ever any doubt?” Jenny asked, hurt replaced by surprise in the tone of her voice.

“Not from the very second I saw the little plus sign on that test. I wanted to make sure that, well, you know, things are a bit complicated. We fight demons. He was born in 1749. I just had to make sure everything was okay before I got too many more people involved,” Abbie reassured her. She then picked the ultrasound picture up from the table and looked at it. “And as we can all see, everything is going to be fine.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Joe said, holding up his champagne flute. Everyone clinked glasses and took a sip of their various beverages.

“I’m just glad you haven’t asked what I know you’re dying to ask,” Jenny said. Crane stood up and started clearing their plates but Joe stayed put, trying to figure out what Jenny was getting at.

“What’s that?” Abbie asked.

“When are Joe and I going to have a baby so your little chick has a cousin to play with obviously,” Jenny said. Joe sputtered and Jenny slapped him on the back until he stopped. Obviously they had discussed this as much as she had with her partner. Not at all.

“And the answer to that would be not for a very long time!” Joe answered for them. Jenny raised her eyebrow at him and gave him a shoulder shrug.

“Wait a minute. Back up. Chick?”

“A baby crane. A bird. A chick,” Jenny said. “Little chick.”

“Oh, God no. There’s no way that’s going to be the nickname for our child,” Crane called out from the kitchen. And Abbie had to wholeheartedly agree on that one.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

“How is our little chick doing today?” Crane asked as Abbie walked through the front door and put down her belongings. He knew his question was a mistake right away. Pregnancy hormones, she had already told him, could lead to wild emotions. Add in the exhaustion from her latest assignment and he wished he could take his question back. Or reword it at least.

“How about how am I doing?” she shot back, sitting down on the couch. He hit pause on the video game and turned to her.

“How are you doing?” he asked this time.

“Things hurt that I didn’t even know could hurt and this is still early in the pregnancy! How am I going to be able to stand it when I’m huge and bloated and I won’t even be able to tie my shoes by myself?” she asked.

“I will tie your shoes for you. And untie them at the end of the day,” Crane said. He put down the video game controller and moved closer to her. She scooted over on the couch and he moved her even more, until her feet where on his lap. He untied the laces on her boots and carefully pulled one off and then the other, tossing them to the floor. He then took her one foot and rubbed it tenderly while Abbie just stared at him.

“You didn’t do this for me before. I’d come home from work and you’d have dinner ready but never foot rubs,” Abbie said, enjoying this thoroughly. He switched to the other foot, his fingers kneading the ball of her foot with expertise.

“You weren’t carrying my child before,” he said.

“So that’s the secret to getting you to rub my tired feet? Have your baby?” Abbie asked.

“Although this is technically the second time for me, as you know, this part is all new so I don’t know what secrets you might unlock. Besides, for a few months, we were busy doing other things when you’d come home from work. Remember?” he said, feeling his face blush at the memory of all the things they’d do right when she’d come through the front door. And where they’d do it. The kitchen counter… the table… all wonderful memories. Once again, he hoped that someday they’d be able to live life like that again. Maybe when the baby was sleeping.

Abbie hummed in agreement, her eyes closed now, her arm crossed over them. He continued rubbing one foot and then the other until she was snoring softly. He didn’t leave her even then but instead reached for the blanket and made sure she was covered up and warm, not moving from his end of the couch for fear of waking her.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

At some point in the middle of her second trimester, Abbie noticed that a lot of the exhaustion had passed. The nausea was also gone and eggs were once again allowed in the house but nothing with the fake smell of peach would ever cross the front doorstep again.

She also noticed that she wanted Crane every time he came into view. Wanted as in wanted right now. On the bed. In the kitchen. In his chair while he was trying to play his stupid video games in the evening. It didn’t matter. She wanted him. Wanted it. She read on the internet that this could happen during this trimester but this was incredible.

He thought so, too.

They had quite a lot of sex in the months before she got pregnant but it was nothing like this need she had now. Jenny joked that she should enjoy it while it lasted because soon there would be a baby to take care of and diapers and spit-up and no one would be wanting anything for a long time except a long, hot shower and some sleep.

This time, she found him in the bathtub, soaking under a mountain of bubbles.

“Rough day?” she asked and he smiled.

“Grueling. I was woken up before dawn by an insatiable pregnant woman and then every school child in the county came on class trip today. Oh, are you getting into the bath with me?” he asked as she stripped out of her clothes and fashioned her hair so it wouldn’t get wet. Her abdomen was getting rounder by the day and so were her breasts. She could feel Crane’s eyes devouring her from across the bathroom.

“I might as well while we both fit in the tub together,” she said, stepping into the water. He reached for her and helped her settle in, sitting between his legs. She leaned back against him and his hands rested on the curve of her belly.

“How is our little chick doing today?” he asked. The silly nickname was sticking for now, especially since she convinced him that they didn’t need to know whether it was a boy or a girl. They were still debating names and thankfully had a few months left to discuss that she was never naming a child Ichabod.

“The baby had been moving around all day until about an hour ago. It must be nap time,” Abbie said.

“Good,” Crane said, his hands moving from her stomach to her breasts. She arched into his touch and enjoyed the heightened sensation of everything. Judging from what was going on behind her, he seemed to be enjoying everything a lot, too. “And how are you today?”

“Still insatiable,” she said, watching as his one hand went under the bubbles and over her stomach and then down further.

“Good,” he said again. His fingers found her clit with practiced ease. The only sound in the room was the water splashing where his hand touched her, the barely perceptible ‘pop pop pop’ of bubbles, and her soft moans. “I love it when you make that noise. Don’t stop, Abbie.”

“You don’t stop… oh, God. Don’t stop,” Abbie said as his fingers circled her clit the way she liked. He’d slide them down further, slipping into her and then back to her clit again and she was so sensitive that she knew it wouldn’t take long.

She came against his fingers, her back arching as her orgasm overtook her body and her mind. She knew she was calling out his name but her voice echoed around the room and in her head and then faded to nothing. He didn’t stop. She was going to go crazy if he didn’t stop. She pushed his hand away and struggled to catch her breath.

“You are a treasure. I discover something more about you every–” Crane started to say but Abbie shushed him. She turned around in the tub, something that was getting more and more difficult now, and then she straddled his slender body. He was hard and needy beneath her and slipped into her quickly, his hips thrusting up, seeking out more.

It was going so quickly, the bubbles fading fast as water splashed everywhere. She laced her fingers into his wet hair and pulled him in for a frantic kiss, her tongue searching out his. She pulled away, looking at his swollen rosy lips and then his eyes, dark now with desire. She watched him as he came… when he could no longer keeps his eyes open to watch her back. And she didn’t know why or what kind of biological need was creating this urge inside of her, but she knew they weren’t going to make it through the night without doing this all over again.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

He was standing in the brightly colored room, having what he was sure was a “panic attack.” The oak crib was assembled and waiting. The room was decorated in yellow and artwork depicting fat, frolicking honey bees covered the walls. The cradle he built was in their bedroom, next to their bed, also waiting. A whole assortment of items he never knew were necessary in order to bring home someone so small filled the room. A table specifically for changing. A wipe… warmer. Abbie’s Diaper Genie she demanded they needed. More clothes than he ever owned in his lifetime. The best baby car seat system on the market. A stuffed toy bear that took up an entire corner of the room, presented this past weekend by Miss Jenny because she “couldn’t resist.”

Yet even with all of these items filling the room, he was sure they were missing something important. Or else he was just being over cautious. He wasn’t sure anymore.

He heard the toilet flush and then Abbie joined him in the room. “Everything okay?” she asked.

Crane turned to look at her and noticed something was different about her. Her crossed hands weren’t as high on her abdomen as usual. They were no longer tucked beneath her breasts but were lower.

“Is everything fine with you? Are you… is it… time?” he asked with a touch of panic in his voice instead of answering her query.

“What? No! I just had to pee. Now that this little chick has dropped lower, I have to pee constantly. The good news is I can breathe again,” Abbie said, patting her round belly and sighing. “We still have a few weeks. What are you doing up?”

“Making sure everything is ready,” Crane said, observing Abbie closely to make sure she was really okay.

“I’m ready,” Abbie said, sighing again. She did look more tired than she had for a while and the last days had been trying for both of them. The creatures of the underworld had been quiet for a while but now they knew that the Witnesses had a baby on the way. This baby was very valuable to some dark force somewhere and they were making sure that they would be there when the child was born.

And Ichabod Crane was doing everything in his power to make sure nothing ever happened to this child of his. Not after what happened with the last one.

But there were dangers in this world other than evil forces. Dangers much closer to home.

“Are you certain we don’t need to put the childproof locks on the cabinets yet?” he asked Abbie and she laughed. He pulled her into his arms and wrapped her in his embrace, wishing he was half as calm as she was. Or at least she appeared to be.

“I don’t think we have to worry about that for a few weeks. Let’s just enjoy unlocked cabinets and toilet seats for as long as we possibly can, okay?” she asked, placing her cheek against his chest and settling in so her belly fit just so. Hugging was getting more difficult but he didn’t want to give that up, either. There would be three of them soon. He was ready to meet his child. Ready for their family to grow. Only a few more weeks. Nothing was going to harm them. He wouldn’t let that happen. Ever.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

“I’m not having this baby in the Masonic cell!” Abbie said adamantly as she pulled opened the door. Crane was several strides behind her and caught up quickly, holding the door open for her. She ducked into the room under his arm and everybody in their childbirth prep class stared at them. This wasn’t unusual. None of these people could quite figure out what to make of this pregnant FBI agent and her British partner dressed in colonial attire who seemed bemused by the various topics they covered.

“Miss Jenny, Master Corbin, and I have considered this at great lengths and for your safety as well as the baby’s, it would be for the best,” he said, trying to keep his voice low enough so the others wouldn’t hear. All the other couples in the room went back to their business with a handful of pregnant women trying to get comfortable.

“I’m glad the three of you have decided that. What? Is Joe going to deliver the baby? Is that what you have planned, too?” Abbie asked, wishing that they could just put an end to this discussion. Of course this would be the night that the instructor was late. She was normally early, chirping away happily about how wonderful everyone looked. Not tonight.

Abbie put her pillow down on the floor and sat beside it with ease. All that yoga was paying off now though it was harder to get up without help. Crane sat beside her, trying hard to figure out what to do with his gangling, booted legs.

“I will not let anything happen to you ever again. You or our child,” Crane said quietly, reaching out to her and holding her hand. “I’m not sure how I can protect you in any other way.”

The instructor breezed through the door and made her apologies for being late. Some sort of weird occurrence was going on outside and something was in flames but everybody would be safe. Abbie turned to Crane. There had been too many weird occurrences lately. Too many things ending up in flames. And all of them close to wherever they might be.

“We will figure out another way. We always do,” she said, and he nodded, the look of concern still painted across his face.

“Yes, we do,” he said but Abbie knew she hadn’t heard the end of it yet.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

Crane stood in the center of the clearing, looking at the small stone alter that had recently been constructed. He wouldn’t let his mind consider for one moment what the demons had planned to do with it. Or on it. But now that the latest infestation of them were cleared out, sent back to hell where they belonged, this would be destroyed. He angrily kicked it over then slammed the largest rock down on the smaller ones. He turned them into pebbles and dust, all the while screaming that nothing was going to take this family away from him. That was not going to happen. Not ever again.

“Crane!”

The sound of his name snapped him out of his angry fugue and he discovered that Joe was standing right behind him.

“Abbie?” he asked, his voice raw from yelling at the sky.

“She’s fine. She was safe in the Masonic cell during the worst of it. Jenny is driving her to the hospital right now,” Joe said. Crane looked at him and then back down at the pile of rocks at his feet.

He knew this battle wasn’t finished. They could pretend that this child wasn’t any different from all the other babies born every day and they could act like everything was normal and sit through childbirth classes and decorate a nursery but he knew that wasn’t the case.

This was the child of the Witnesses and it had all the evil forces on edge. No, there was nothing normal about this baby. What role would their child play in all of this? No one could even guess and no amount of research led him to an answer.

“Hospital?” Crane asked, his mind finally registering exactly what Joe had said. 

“It’s time,” Joe said, hardly able to get the words out before Crane dashed past him, out of the clearing, and through the woods. There was no way he was going to miss this. Later, he could battle whatever other demons arrived. Right now, there was someone he had to meet.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

The soft sound of singing woke Abbie from her short nap. She blinked a few times and looked around to find Crane holding their son, sunlight streaming around them through the open blinds, making both of them look almost angelic. She closed her eyes and smiled, hoping she would never forget the sight of her two men together at this very moment. She didn’t recognize the lullaby but it was beautiful. She wanted to cry and laugh and everything was just perfect. Exhausting… but perfect.

He had made it to the hospital in time. Joe and Jenny had made sure nothing came through the doors that wasn’t supposed to. They were safe for now.

“I do believe your mother is awake, my dearest boy,” Crane said when he finished singing his tune. The baby fussed in his arms and Abbie opened her eyes.

“How is he? Ready to eat?” Abbie asked, offering to take him from Crane. Her breasts were certainly ready for him.

“Mason is doing well and enjoys my singing. I might have to take him to karaoke night soon. I will have one fan at least,” Crane said, carefully depositing their son in her arms. She knew she was biased like all mothers, but he was perfect. No one had ever had a more perfect baby in the history of the world. She was sure of it. The ten hours of labor was nearly forgotten when she looked at him. Nearly. Then she shifted positions and she remembered them vividly.

She had to figure out how to be a mom and now that he was here and she was holding him, the idea that she was someone’s mother terrified her. Monsters she could handle. This… this was something else but they would have to figure it out together. They had plenty of time.

Mason Augustus Crane-Mills.

She held him to her breast and helped him latch on like she had been shown and he started suckling right away, filling his mouth with milk and then swallowing, his little ears wiggling when he did so. She looked at Crane and he was staring at her as if she had just performed some mysterious feat of magic.

“Thank you…” he said, sitting gently on the edge of her hospital bed so he could watch.

“For?” Abbie asked.

“Not very many people get a second chance at everything. You have given me that,” he said. Abbie could feel her emotions beginning to waver again and she fought back the tears. “You have given me everything.”

She stroked Mason’s soft, round cheek as he continued to eat and there was no way to stop the tears now.

“I think… no, I know… we’ve given each other everything,” Abbie said, looking from her son to his father. “He is everything.”

Crane smiled and reached out to touch his son’s hair and Abbie placed her hand on top of his. “Yes, he certainly is that. Everything and more.”

*^*^*^*^*^*^

The End (?)


End file.
